Autor Cointelegraph By Daniel Jimenez

NFTs, payments and conferences: Crypto in Latin America in 2021

NFTs, payments and conferences: Crypto in Latin America in 2021

Uverejnil používateľ | feb 20, 2022 |

In 2021, Latin America saw a soaring rise in crypto adoption among the 20 countries and 14 dependencies that make up the region.A slew of conferences, associations, new regulations and nonfungible token (NFT) projects as well as the global bull market made last year an intriguing one for the region.Let’s take a look at some of the most interesting developments in the blockchain and cryptocurrency ecosystem in Latin America in 2021.Colombian financial firms partner with crypto exchangesEarly in 2021, the Financial Superintendence of Colombia authorized several partnerships between banking institutions licensed in the nation’s financial system and cryptocurrency exchanges.The nine partnerships included major names from the cryptocurrency industry such as Binance and Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss’ Gemini. The regulator said that these approvals were made within a regulatory sandbox for testing technological solutions in the world financial market and will have a trial period of up to one year.Crypto recognition in Latin AmericaIn 2021, the rapid growth of digital currencies led some Latin American countries to officially recognize their use as a payment instrument, despite their reputation for volatility. El Salvador’s official recognition of Bitcoin (BTC) as legal tender — a world-first — made waves not only in Latin America but across the world.Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele’s Bitcoin Law was approved by a majority vote in the country’s representative body, the Legislative Assembly, and came into effect in September.In August 2021, Cointelegraph reported that the Central Bank of Cuba was expected to recognize cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Litecoin (LTC) and Tether (USDT) for commercial transactions and investments.The president of the Central Reserve Bank of Peru, Julio Velarde, announced in November that the nation will partner with the central banks of India, Hong Kong and Singapore to develop its own central bank digital currency. Blockchain events in 2021As a result of lockdowns and subsequent confinement during the COVID-19 pandemic, many blockchain companies and organizations reevaluated their strategies and took to cyberspace to meet up and attend conferences.Blockchain Summit LatamThe Blockchain Summit Latam conference is considered to be one of the most important crypto events in Latin America, promoting the crypto and blockchain ecosystem in the region. In September 2021, its 5th edition hosted 100 expert speakers from the broader ecosystem.Over five days, more than 60 virtual spaces hosted seminars and discussions focused on blockchain technology. The topics included infrastructure and applications, the Ibero-American ecosystem, business, decentralized finance, blockchain in the traditional financial system and more.LaBitConfIn November 2021, the ninth edition of the Spanish-speaking Latin American Bitcoin and Blockchain Conference, also known as LaBitConf, was held. The conference combined face-to-face and virtual meetings, and the agenda featured more than 150 industry experts giving more than 40 presentations on topics such as Bitcoin mining, the future of exchanges in Latin America, regulation, and privacy and security, among others.Cripto Latin Fest In December, the fourth edition of Crypto Latin Fest combined online and in-person meetings over two 14-hour days featuring talks and seminars with experts in the cryptocurrency space.Notable individuals from the crypto ecosystem in Latin America — such as José Rodríguez, director of Blockchain Land at Talent Land, and Elian Huesca, community lead for Latin America at Bitso — covered topics such as blockchain, stablecoins, cybersecurity, legality, DeFi and crypto adoption.Blockchain LandThe massive Spanish-language Blockchain Land conference — presented by the same company that produced Talent Land Latinoamerica — launched for the first time in 2020 and was broadcast simultaneously in the Decentraland and Cryptovoxels metaverses.The event, held in April, was one of the largest Spanish-speaking events and was considered to be the most innovative, as it was broadcast simultaneously in two virtual worlds existing on the Ethereum blockchain where the users could interact, speak and network.NFT boom in Latin AmericaLast year, nonfungible tokens took off in Latin America and around the globe.In September, Argentine NFT marketplace SeSocioNFT opened up shop, promoting and selling pieces from Latin American artists. The platform reportedly plans to adapt pieces created by various artists into NFTs so that they can then be sold on the marketplace.The NFT boom led to the first digital art gallery in Ecuador, NFTs Exhibition UIDE hosted at the International University of Ecuador. The gallery was open from Nov. 24 until Dec. 23 and displayed around 40 works by four Ecuadorian artists and 15 foreigners, valued at $160 million in total.A collective of Venezuelan artists known as La Tokenia, inaugurated their NFT exhibition on the Tezos network in December.Meanwhile, in November, the Colombian government signed a mining contract with the National Mining Agency that was registered as NFT on the Ethereum-compatible GoChain blockchain.

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Innovation and experimentation: Spain’s blockchain sector in 2021

Innovation and experimentation: Spain’s blockchain sector in 2021

Uverejnil používateľ | feb 14, 2022 |

In Spain, companies across various industries — not just digital finance — have begun to apply blockchain technology to their operations. This disruptive technology has promoted pioneering projects in the country that are expected to add 20 billion euros to Spanish gross domestic product by 2030.As expectations around this technology increased in Spain throughout 2021, so did investment, hype and concerns regarding the stability and regulation of digital assets.Here, we will take a look at some of the most notable developments in the Spanish cryptocurrency and blockchain ecosystems throughout 2021. Central bank warns about risks of crypto investmentThe Central Bank of Spain together with the National Securities Market Commission issued a statement in February 2021 warning citizens about the risks of cryptocurrencies as an investment.The statement noted that there is still no regulatory framework in the European Union to regulate cryptocurrencies, nor does it provide guarantees and safeguards similar to those available for other financial products like stocks and bonds.New tax regulations for digital currenciesAs part of the effort to regulate and keep digital currencies operations under scrutiny, at the beginning of July, the Spanish Ministry of Finance announced the “law to prevent and fight against tax fraud.”Herein, the Treasury will require the declaration of income tax and digital currency assets, as well as reporting payments and collections made with cryptocurrencies.Local media then reported that “this regulation introduces an obligation to provide information on the balances held by the holders of virtual currencies and on the operations in which they are involved. This same obligation extends to those who make initial offers of new virtual currencies.”Fintech industry gets a sandbox to play inIn May, the Secretary General of the Treasury and International Financing published a resolution that included a list of the first projects admitted to the Spanish Regulatory Sandbox.The sandbox will allow a select group of companies to test new business models in a closed environment, overseen by the Bank of Spain, the General Directorate of Insurance and Pension Funds and the National Commission of Markets and Securities. The digital euro in the municipal codeIn July, Juan Berenguer, the mayor of El Campello — a town in the Eastern Costa Blanca in Valencia — reported that the municipality has been chosen to host a local digital currency project, complementary to the digital euro, in order to study how such a change to currency in the Eurozone would “be accepted by society.”The initiative also aims to determine how both public and private jurisdictions can participate in the design, research and testing of a central bank digital currency.Zamora promotes blockchain technologyThe city of Zamora, the capital of the eponymous province in northwest Spain, hosted an online workshop devoted to the development of blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies. The event titled “Discover the secrets of blockchain and cryptocurrencies and how to apply them in your company” and hosted by the Zamora Chamber of Commerce was aimed at small and medium-sized companies with payrolls of less than 10 workers “who wish to improve their digital marketing strategy.”Use cases and innovationOutside of finance, blockchain saw innovative applications in civil and administrative contexts. In February, over 2,000 people in Catalonia participated in a poll conducted using blockchain technology. The initiative was developed through the Vocdoni digital platform which allowed results to be calculated minutes after the polls closed. In the educational field, the University of Murcia announced that it will issue certificates in blockchain through Blockcerts.The Spanish university issued blockchain certificates to the attendees of the Crue-TIC 2021/2022 “Disruptive Technologies by the Digital University” conference, where participants discussed the applications of artificial intelligence, data analytics and big data, blockchain, cloud tech and 5G.A Spanish project that uses blockchain technology was a finalist in the European Digital Mindset Awards in the “Best Digital Accelerator in the Public Sector” category.Endesa’s electricity-focused blockchain project Confía conducted a pilot in collaboration with the Malaga City Council and the University of Malaga.Spanish startup 1MillionBot developed a blockchain-supported virtual assistant for COVID-19 vaccinations. Toward the end of the year, the blockchain center of Catalonia announced that it will launch Carvers, a Catalan metaverse. The new monolingual metaverse seeks to promote the Catalan language and culture on the internet.

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